Recording-compass.



E. SGHUETTE & N. DEDRIGK. RECORDING COMPASS.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 22, 1908.

978,942. Patented Dec. 20, 1910.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

22 2s 3s 1. 2% @i AI/2% E. SOHUETTE & N. DEDRIOK.

RECORDING COMPASS.

APPLIOATION FILED JUNE 22, 1908.

Patented Dec. 20, 1910.

1 5 xmm 0 w o mmumm llilillill t W WHHMI M 545 7 )t 5 6AM. 1 s 9 :0 n11m. 2 a 4 5 62M Wi tn come UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

EDWIN SCHUE'ITE AND NICHOLAS nEimIcK, or mA-NIrowoc, WISCONSIN; SAIDnnmucx ASSIGNOR '10 SAID SGHUETTE. a

RECORDING-COMPASS.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented Dec, 20, 1910.

Application filed June 22, 1908. Serial No. 441,892.

To all whom it may concern:

lie. 1t known that we. EDWIN SCHUET'JIIG and .ucnoms l llblthjK, both ofManitowoc,

Wisconsin, have invented a Recording-Coinpass. of which the following isa specification. I

This invention is a recording-compass or course-recording apparatusespecially de signed for use on board ship, and is designed to produce acontinuous record of the direction of the ship with relation to time; sothat the direction in which the ship was moving at any hour and minutecan be determined at any time thereafter from an inspection of therecord produced. Recording compasses of this character have beenheretofore devised. a all the extreme value of a perfect and successfulrecording compass iswell recognized by navigators; but such recordingcompasses as have been heretofore invented have had certain practical ortheoretical objcctions which. notwithstanding the great need of suchinstruments have prevented them from coming into use except in a limitedway.

it is the object of our invention to produce a recording-compass whichshall be free from the aforesaid objections; shall produe an absolutelycontinuous record;-can be manufactured and sold at a reasonable cost:and shall not involve any cumbrous expensive or delicate machinery,apparatus or processes which will be liable to get out of order or whichinvolve skilled attention such as is not likely to be found on boardship.

Perhaps one oi the principal obstacles which has been encountered in alldevices of this class is the extremely small directive power oi themagnetic needle itself, especially on board ship where it is influencedlargely by local attraction; such fecbleness of directive power makingit extremely difficult devise a mechanism which can he used inconnection wit 1 the needle (and therefore carried around by it) torecord its direction, and yet which will not involve so much friction asto cause undue sticking or hesitation. in our apparatus we provide anahnost entirely frictionle s device for providing electric contact witha circle of elec tric mntact-points: and said contact-device closes anauxiliary circuit which acts by, means of relays to close an independentand 5 main circuit which operates the recordnigi device in accordancewith the movements of the. magnetic needle.

Another feature of this invention consists in the novel form ofrecording-chart and ar- 'angen1ent of the movement of the recordingpoint or pencil, whereby the north and south points are at opposite endsof the chart, with the other points of the compass both of east and westbearing located between the same in appropriate order, and the points ofthe compass are equally spaced upon the chart.

Another feature of our invention consists in the arrangement by whichthe location of the recorder is independent of that of the compass, sothat the two may be located in different parts of the ship; and moreoverthe form and dimensions of the chart are not in any way dependent uponthe size or arrangement of the compass.

Our invention also comprises other constructions and combinations whichwill be.

hereinafter described and particularly set forth in the claims.

Our invention may best be understood from a consideration of thefollowing de scription of the most improved form thereof taken inconnection with the accompanying drawings, wherein,

Figure 1 is a diagrammatic view of the.

native arrangement, and Fig. 8 shows a p01 tion of the recording chart.

in these dra "ings every reference letter and numeral refers always tothe same part.

in Fig. l are shown the general mechanical and electrical arrangementsof the entire apparatus; but, so far as the mechanical arrangementsherein shown are concerned,

it is to be understood that these are somewhat modified in form andposition -for the purpose of enabling them to be eX- hibited upon aplane, and moreover that they may take various forms which will bereadily apparent to those skilled in the art. The compass is designatedin a general way by the reference-character A and the.recording-instrument by the referencecharacter B; the needle itself isnot shown in this figure, but is represented by the contact-arm a, whichis carried therebyand turns therewith about the pivot 11 in the centerof the compass-box, and is surrounded by a ring of contact-points a,with which one end of said contact-arm makes contact successively as itturns upon its, pivot. The contact-points re resent in their positionsthe several points of the compass, and are here designated respectivelyby the usual abbreviations for said points. The points a beingstationary with respect to the ship, the compass-directions arereversed. For the pur ose of attaining suificient accuracy there Wlllpreferably be sixty-four contactpoints a but to avoid unnecessarycomplexity of illustration we have shown in Fig. 1 sixteen points a andit will be readil seen that any other number might be use withcorresponding changes in the other parts. The recording-instrument Bcomprises a swinging contact-arm c, which turns about a pivot 0 througha suitable arc, and has mounted thereon a pair of insulatedcontact-strips c on opposite sides of the center, which are arranged tocontact with a series of contact-points d set in a suitable mounting d,-these contact-points are the same in number as the contact-points a,with which they are electrically connected each to each by electricalconductors e. The arrangement of the contact-points d. upon the mountingd is a peculiar and an important feature of our invention. It will beseen that the north and south points are located at opposite ends of theboard and that the intermediate points are arranged to alternate betweeneast and west bearings in pass,- ing from north to south; so that thepoints north-northeast and north-northwest, northeast and northwest,east-northeast and westnorthwest and east and west, for example, arelocated adjacent to each other in regular order. 'The contact-strips care separated by an open space 0 which is sufiicient toinclude one pointbetween them and out of contact with both, and said contact-strips arepreferably extended to cover and contact simultaneously with at leasttwo points on each side of the middle point. It is preferable, however,that the contact-strips 0 be extended so as to cover all of the points don either side of the central-point, as will be explained below inconnection with Fig. 7 but for simplicitys sake and to avoidcomplicating the figure and explanation thereof, such extensions areomitted from Fig. 1. Stop-blocks d or other;means may be provided at theends of the contactboard d for positively limiting the movement of thecontact-arm c and preventing it from being carried by any chance beyondits proper limit of travel. With the contact-arm c are mounted a pair ofratchettoothed arcs f which have teeth facing in opposite directions andare acted on by a pair of pawls g mounted on swinging arms It, saidpawls 9 being pressed against the teeth of the arcs f by springs g, butin their normal inactive positions they are held out of engagement withsaid teeth by means such as pins 9. Suitable vibrating motors i areconnected with the arms h by links 7'; each of said motors as hereinshown consisting. of an electromagnet or solenoid i attracting a core 1'which is mounted upon an oscillating arm 2" connected by the link 7'with the arm h. The motor is operated by a battery is and in the circuitl of the motor is included the arm i and a contact-point i which closesthe circuit only when the arm is not attracted by the magnet i; so thatthe effect when the circuit is closed is to keep the arm 2' invibration, in a manner common to this class of motors, and thus tovibrate the arm h and turn the arc f tooth by tooth in one direction orthe other, thus shift-.

ing the contact-arm. 0 in the corresponding direction. The circuits Z ofthe motors z' are arranged to be closed by mans of relays m, which arelocated in branch-circuits 12. leading from the pivot (1, of thecontact-arm a to the respective contactstrips 0 as shown; thus formingin certain positions a closed circuit on one side or the other inconnection with the contact-arm a and one of the conductors 0. Thiscircuit is energized by a source of electricity such as a dynamo 0located therein. It is preferred to employ a comparatively high voltagefor this service in order to minimize the current necessary to passthrough the arm a, and thus avoid undue sparking at the points a andalso undue influence upon the magnetic needle; we may conveniently usefor this service the usual electric lighting pressure of 110 volts. Alamp 7) or like resistance is inserted in series with the dynamo .0 toavoid any excessive rush of current. a

The relays m are so arranged in-the circuits n that when. a current ispassed through either of these circuits the relay will attract itsarmature m and this acts to close the circuit Z of the correspondingmotor 2' in the manner shown. The effect of the aforesaid arrangement isthat, the two contact-arms a and 0 being in corresponding positions, themovement of the'cont-act-arm a to another position, which it can only doby passing successively through the intermediate positions, spondingposition. This action takes place as follows: So long as the twocontact-arms are in corresponding positions, for example the positionwest-northwest as shown in the trically with 'the corresponding point dwhich is midway between them. But suppose the c'ontact-arm a. to move toanother position, which it can only do by passing successively throughthe intermediate positions, which latter first close the circuit 11through one'of the adjacent contact-points a, one of and accurateworking of the apparatus is the the next-but-one adjacent contact-pointsd, and oneof the contact-strips this in turn closes the correspondingrelay m and sets in vibration the corresponding motor 2', which in turncauses the corresponding pawl g to act on the corresponding arc f tomove the arm c in a direction toward the contact-point (1' through whichthe current is passing, and this movement will continue untll thecircuit is broken by said contact -point' becoming central between thetwo contact-strips 0 whereupon the circuit being broken the movementwill stop. Thus the contact-arm c is bound to follow the movement of thearm o through whatever series of positions it may successively take 11As the conductors may be of any desired length, the'p osition of thecompass A is quite independent of that of the recorder B, whichaccordingly may be (for example) in the captains room of the vesselwhile the compass is in the pilot-l1ouse; and the captain can thereforewhile in his room observe in what direction the ship is being steered atany moment. In so far therefore as no written record is desired theapparatus as thus far described would be complete. To produce a recordof the course, a recording-arm g is mounted on the arm 0 or any otherpart which moves with it (it may be the arm 0 itself) which carries arecording pen or pencil g which for the sake of brevity we shallheredesignate as the recording-point. Beneath the re .cordingpoint q ismounted a continuous roll of paper 7* printed as shown in Fig. 8, thatis, divided longitudinally-into strips 7* representing the severalpoints of the compass arranged in the same order as the contact-pointsd, and with transverse lines 7' at equal intervals representing equalintervals of time, for example an hour. The lines 1 will of course becircular arcs of the same radius as that of the recording-point g,unless a different motion is given to the recording-point, in which casethe lines '2" will be changed to correspond. Beneath the point 9" is a.plate 1' which supports the paper against pressure of the point, andthe ends of the recording-sheet are wound upon rolls 1*, r, the latterof which is mechanically connected as by gears 1 to the clock-work swhich gives it an even time-advancement corresponding to the spacing ofthe lines r". The number of spaces 1" is equal to the number of points athe chart shown in Fig. 8 is for compasses having thirty-two points aThe spaces 1' designatin and one having sixty-four points, as in Fi 2,would require twice as many spaces 7 west-bearings are,

moreover, preferably istinguished from those designating east-bearin sby shading or' coloring the same, or in ii e manner, so that it may beseen at a glance whether the vessel is hearing east or west of north. Anelement most essential to the proper construction of the compass andconnected the needle, here shown as of the built uptype formed of alarge number of magnetized steel bars or wires inclosed in pontoons 10and carrying the annular compass-card 11, is floated, said needleturning on a suitable pivot (not shown) and its weight largely removedfrom said pivot by means of a float 12. These features are illustratedmerely by way of example and are not in themselves a part of myinvention. The glass-plate '09 is preferably domed so that any entrappedair shall converge to-the center, and it is perforated by a hole 13 inwhich is inserted the stem 14 of a circular base 15' and secured theretoby a nut 16 on the under side of the plate a. on its periphery and thereis screwed thereto an annular block 17 of insulating material such ashard rubber, in which is set the ring of contact-points a which heretake the form of posts projecting through to the urn der side of theblock 17, and the ends of the wires 6 are attached to their lower ends(see Fig. 3). The base 15 has a central passageway 18, and an uprightstem 19 mounted on the float 12 directly over the pivot passes throughsaid passage-way and carries on its upper end the contact-arm a, whichlatter is secured thereto by means of a pivot-stem 20 which screws ontothe upper end of the stem 19 over the contact-arms and clamps it downupon a shoulder 21 on the latter. The stem 20 projects upwardly abovethe arm a and its end is pointed to receive a pivoted element 22, which,as shown in Fig. 3, has a conical recess 23 on its under side restingupon the point of the stem 20; said member being held in uprightposition by a weighted ring 2-1 below the point of the stem 20 andconnected with the member by arms The member 22 has a transverseperforation 26 adapted to receive the end of a fine connecting wire 2-7which is secured in place in said hole by a binding-screw 28. The

The base 15 is threaded other end of the wire 27 is connected with abinding-post 29 on the blocki17, to which post on the lower face of theblock is connected the conductor of the circuit n, the latter beingbound up with the other 64 wires 6 belonging to the posts a As means ofgetting these wires changed without interfering with the free movementof the compass on its gimbals, they are divided into two parts andcarried out on opposite sides of the box a in line with the pivots a",being preferably inclosed in small rubber tubes 30, and they are securedto the gimbal-ring a by cleats 31 immediately over the pivots, and passaround said gimbal-ring to one of the pivots a, where they are united.in an inclosing tube 32 and pass out parallel to and over the pivot of,being secured by means of a cleat 33, and thence leading to a multipleplug-switch 34 on the side of the box a. Said switch is in two halves,the free half 35 being readily disconnectible from the fixed with bothat the same time.

half and carrying the wires as a whole through a tube 36 to therecording instrument. This arrangement is not essential to ourinvention, but provides a convenient means of attaching and detachingthe recording-instrument wires to the box in a body. It should beunderstood that the wires 6 are very fine and flexible and therefore donot interfere sensibly with the swinging of the compass upon itsgimbals.

The special means which we have devised for making frictionless contactbetween the arm a and posts a consists of a light starwheel 37,comprising a light pivot-cap 38 and a set of equidistant arms 39radiating therefrom; said cap 38 having a conical bearing 40 which turnsupon a pointed pivotpin 41 mounted on the end of the arm a. The positionof the arms 39 is such that one of them always projects between adjacentpins (1. and therefore contacts with one or the other of said adjacentpins but never The friction resistance of contact is therefore reducedto the sliding resistance of the arms 39 over the pins a and the pivotalresistance of the bearing 40 upon its pivot 41; both of which are soslight as to be practically impercept' ible, and which we have found donot interfere sensibly With the movements of the magnetic needle. Ashowever the needle 10 1s always sub]ect to some rocking or swaylng uponits pivot, such swaying would interfere with the central position of thearm a and.

would cause the star-wheel 37 to be thrown against the pins a orwithdrawn therefrom so as to interfere with its proper action, and toavoid this we provide a side-bearing 42 for the stem 20, which saidbearing as here shownis in the form of ahollow cylinder provided withantifricti'on balls 43 on its interior periphery. Said balls are soarranged that they do not close] stem 20, but merely limit its ment, sothat said stem in swaying with the needle strikes the balls on one sideor the other, which offer no resistance to rotation. The bearing 42 issuitably mounted on a bridge 44, which is su orted on upright posts 45mounted in theb ock 17 on opposite sides of the center.

Instead of the pair of reciprocatin motors 2' shown in Fig. 1 we may usea sing e motor with suitable reversing-connections. This arrangement isillustrated in Fig. 7-. The arrangement of the compass, contact-arms aand c, contact-points a and d, relays m, and circuit-leads n and e arethe same as before (conductors e are here not shown), except thatabattery t is substituted for the dynamo 0 and resistance p omitted; butinstead of the motors 'i a single motor u is substituted and instead ofthe arcs f a worm-wheel are 12 is mounted in connection with thecontact-arm cand engages aworm 1; turned by the motor u. Said motor hastwo field-coils u and u" which are connected in opposite directions tothe source of current, here shown as a battery w, by means ofcircuit-leads w, at, which are intercepted by the respective relays m;so that when one relay is closed the motor is turned in one directionand when the other relay is closed the motor turns in the otherdirection, the armature and one end of each field-coil being permanentlyconnected to the battery to by leadsy. It will be readily seen that thisarrangement of motor operates in the same way as that of Fig. 1. Twobatteries is are shown in Fig. 1 merel for simplicitys sake, as one canbe used or both motors i, or instead of using batteries the motors couldbe connected to some other source of current, as that which supplies thecircuits n. In Fig. 7 the contact-strips c are also shown as extended tocover all the contact-points d on each side of the arm 0, as hereinabovereferred to in connection with Fig. 1. This arrangement, though nottheoretically necessary,-is

rendered desirable because of the possible temporary suspension of theelectric current during an.-interval in which the compass might assume adifferent direction corresponding to one of the contact-points lyingoutside the range of the contact-strips 0 if these were not so extended,and an extension of these strips enables the instrument in such a caseto be brought back at once into proper registration with the compass.This is the arrangement which we propose to use and is omitted from Fig.1 for simplicitys sake as previously observed;

While we have hereinabove described the most improved form of ourinvention, we wish it understood that it is not confined to the specificarrangements shown, but is subject to alterations in the mechanical andelectrical details'within the reasonable scope of our appended claims.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent is:

1. A recording-compass comprising, in combination, a compass-needle, acontact arm turning with said compass-needle, a ring of contact-pointsconcentric with the pivot of said arm and 'with which oints said arm isadapted to successively ma e contact, an indicating instrument separatefrom the compass and having a traveling-member (0) indicating by itsposition the direction of the compass, a plurality of'contact-pointsarranged adjacent to the path of movement of said traveling-member andconnected severally with the first-mentioned contactpoints, a pairofcontact-pieces (c mounted on said traveling-member and each adapted tomake contact with said contact points, said contact-pieces being spacedapart, an electrical circuit includin asvone pole said contact-arm anddivided into two branches connected to the respective contactieces,means controlled by one of said ranches adapted to move saidtravelingmember in one direction, and means-controlled by the otherbranch for moving the traveling-member in the other direction.

2. A recording-compass comprising, in combination, a compass-needle, acontact arm turning with said compass-needle, a ring of contact-pointsconcentric with the pivot of said arm and with which points said arm isadapted to successively make contact, anindicat-ing instrument separatefrom the compass and having a travelingmember (0) indicating by itsposition the direction of the compass, a plurality of contact-pointsarranged adjacent to the path of movement of said traveling-member andconnected severally with the first-mentioned contactpoints, a pair ofcontact pieces (c mounted on said traveling-member and each adapted tomake contact with said contactpoints, said contact-pieces being spacedapart, an electrical circuit including as one pole said contact-arm and.divided into two branches connected to the respective contact-pieces,means controlled by one of said branches adapted to move saidtravelingmember in one direction, and means controlled by the otherbranch for moving the traveling-member in the other direction; saidsecond set of contact-points being arranged in a line with pointscorresponding to opposite rhumbs of the compass at opposite ends of theline and points corresponding to the other rhumbs of the compassarranged intermediately in serial order.

3. A recording-compass comprising, in combination, a compa-ss'needle, acontact arm turning with said compass-needle, a

ring of contact-points. concentric with the pivotof saidarmand withwhich points saidarn is adapted to successively make contact, anlndicating instrument separate from the compass and having a travelingmember (a) indlc'atlng by its position the direction of the compass, aplurality of contact-points arranged adjacent to the path of movement ofsaid traveling-member and connected severally with the first-mentionedcontactpoints, a pair of contact-pieces (a?) mounted on saidtravelingmember and each adapted to make contact with saidcontactpoints, said contact-pieces being spaced apart, anelectrical'circuit including as one pole sald contact-arm and dividedinto two branches connected to the respective contactpieces, meanscontrolled by one of said branches adapted to move said travelingmemberin one direction, means controlled by the other branch for moving thetraveling-member in the other direction, said second set ofcontact-points being arranged in a line with points corres ending toopposite.

rhumbs at opposite encs of the line, and the points corresponding tointermediate rhumbs on opposite sides of the extreme rhumbs arranged inalternate succession, whereby those contact-points corresponding torhumbs equidistant from an extreme point and on opposite sides thereofare placed adjacent to one another in said line of points.

4. A recording-compass comprising, in combination, a compass-needle, acontactarm turning with saidcompass-needle, a ring of contact-pointsconcentric with the pivot of said arm and with which points said arm isadapted to successively make contact, an indicating instrument separatefrom the compass and having a traveling-member (0) indicating by itsposition the direction' of the compass, a plurality of contactpointsarranged adjacent to the path of movement of said traveling-member andconnected severally with the first-mentioned contact-points, a pair ofcontacbpieces (0 mounted on said traveling-member and each adapted tomake contact with said contactpoints, said contact-pieces being spacedapart, an electrical circuit including as one pole said contact-arm anddivided into two branches connected to the respective contactpieces,means controlled by one of said branches adapted to move saidtravelingmember in one direction, and means controlled by the otherbranch for moving the traveling-member in the other direction; saidsecond set of contact-points being arranged in a line of which thepoints corresponding to the north and south points of the compass are atopposite ends, and the succession of points on said line of contactpoints in passing from the north end to the south end is as follows: thefirst point of the compass on one side of north, then the lirst point ofthe other side, then the second point: on the first side, then thesecond point on the other side, and so on until the south point isreached.

A recording-compass comprising, in combination, a compass-needle, acontactarm turningwith said compass-needle, a ring of contact-pointsconcentric with the pivot of said arm and with which points said arm isadapted to successively make contact. an in dicating-instrument separatefrom the compass and having a swinging coutiu-t-arm, a line ofcontact-points disposed in the are of a circle concentric with the pivotof said last named contact-arm, a pair of contact-pieces carried'by saidcontact-arm adjacent to said line of contactpoints and adapted to makecontact therewith and separated by an open space equal to or less thanthe distance between the two outer of three successive points, a twobranched electric circuit having one pole connected to said first-namedcontact-arm and the two branches connected to the respective.contact-pieces aforesaid, motormechanism controlled by one branch ofsaid circuit adapted to move saidfirst-named contactarm in one directionand other motor-mechanism controlled by the other branch of said circuitadapted to move said last-named arm in the other direction, and aplurality of electrical connections leading from the seveal points ofsaid ring of points respectively to the several points of said line ofpoint 6. A recording-compass comprising, in combination, acompass-needle, a contactarm turning with said compass-needle, a ring ofcontact-points concentric with the pivot of said arm and with whichpoints said arm is adapted to successively make contact, anindicating-instrument separate from the compass and having atravelingmember (0) indicating by its position the directionof thecompass, a plurality of contact-points arranged adjacent to the path ofmovement of said traveling-member and severally connected with thefirst-mentioned contact-points, a pair of contact-pieces (0 mounted onsaid traveling-member and each adapted to make contact with saidcontactpoints, said contact-pieces being spaced apart, an electricalcircuit including as one pole said contact-arm and divided int twobranches connected to the respective contactpieces, a pair of relaysmounted in the respective branches, a pair of secondary electriccircuits arranged to be closed by the respective relays, and amotor-mechanism actuated by said secondary circuits alternatively tomove said traveling-member in one direction when one of said circuits isclosed andin the other direction when the other circuit is closed.

7. A recording-compass comprising, in

combination, a compass-needle, a contactarm turning with saidcompass-needle, a ring of contact-points concentric with the pivot ofsaid arm and with which points said arm is adapted to successively makecontact, 11 indicating-instrun'ient separate from the compass and havinga travelingmember (0) indicating by its position the direction of thecom )ass, a plurality of contact-points arrange adjacent to the path ofmovement of said traveling-member and connected severally with thefirst-mentioned contact=points, a pair of contact-pieces (0 mounted onsaid traveling-member and each adapted to make contact with saidcontactpoints, said contact-pieces being spaced apart, an electricalcircuit includin pole said contact-arm and divided Into two branchesconnected to the respective contactpieces, a vibrating motor controlledby one of said branches and acting to move said traveling-member in onedirection, and a second vibrating motor controlled by the other branchand adapted to move said traveling-member in the other direction.

8. A recording-compass comprising, in combination, a compass-needle, acontactarm turning with said compass-needle, a ring of contact-pointsconcentric withthe pivot of said arm and with which points said arm isadapted to successively make contact, an indicating instrument separatefrom the compass and having a travelingmember (0) indicating by itsposition the direction of the com ass, a lurality of contact-pointsarranged in a iine adjacent 'to the path of movement of said travelingmem er and connected severally with the first-mentioned contact-points,a air of contact-pieces (0 mounted on sai travelingas one member andeach adapted to make contact with said line of contact-points, saidcontactpieces being spaced apart, an electrical circuit including as onepole said contact-arm and divided into two branches connected to therespective contact-pieces, two oppositely directed sets of ratchet-teethbeing carried by said traveling-member, a pair of pawls acting on theres ective sets of ratchetteeth, and a pair 0 motors acting to vibratethe respective pawls, one of said motors be ing controlled by one ofsaid branch-circuits and the other by the other branch-circuit.

9. A recording-compass comprising, in combination, a compass-needle, acontactarm turning with said compass-needle, a ring of contact-pointsconcentric with the pivot of said arm and with which points said arm isadapted to successively make contact, an indicating-instrument separatefrom the compass and having a travelin member (0) indicating byiitsposition the d1- rection of the com ass, a plurality of contact-pointsarrang adjacent to the path of movement of said traveli -member andconnectedseverally with the rat-mentioned contact-p0ints, a pair ofcontact-pieces (0 mounted on said traveling-member and each adapted tomake contact with said, contactpoints, said contact-pieces being aspaced apart, an electrical circuit includin as one pole saidcontact-arm and divided into two ranches connected to the: respectivecontact-pieces, two positivel directed sets of ratchet-teeth beingcarrie by said travelingmember, a pair of awls acting on the respectivesets of rate et-teeth, and a pair of vibrating motors acting to vibratethe respective pawls, one of said vibrating motors v being controlled byone of said branch-circuits and the other by the other branch-circuit.

10. A recording-compass comprising, in combination, a com ass-needle, acontactarm turning with sai compass-needle, a ring of contact pointsconcentric with the pivot of said arm and with which points sai arm isadapted to successively make contact, an indicating-i'nstrument separatefrom the compass and having a traveling-member (c)-indicating by itsposition the direction of the compass, a plurality of contact-pointsarranged adjacent to the path of movement of said traveling-member andconnected severally with the first-mentioned contactoints, a pair ofcontact-pieces (0) mounte on said traveling-member and each adapted tomake contact with said contact-points, said contactpieces being spacedapart, an electrical circuit includm as one ole said contact-armanddivided into two ranches connected to the respectivecontact-pieces, twooppositely directed sets of ratchet-teeth being carried air of pawls,

by said traveling-member, a acting on the respective sets 0ratchet-teeth, a pair of motors acting to reciprocate'the respectiveawls whereby to move said traveling-mem r in the correspondingdirection, a pair of secondary electric circuits in which said motorsare respectively included,

and a pair of relays mounted in the respective branch-circuits andacting to close the respective secondary circuits when thebranch-circuits are closed.

11. A recording-compass comprising, in combination, a magnetic needle, acontactarm mounted thereon, a star-wheel pivotally mounted on the end ofsaid contact-arm, a ring of contactins surrounding said contact-arm anda apted to contact with the arms of said star-wheel, a pivot-pointsurmounting said contact-arm, a counterbalanced pivot-member resting onsaid pivot point, a traveling-member, a line of contactoints arranged inthe path of said traveling-member, a pair of insulated contactpiecescarried by said traveling-member and adapted to make contact with saidline of contactpoints-, said contact-pieces being separated by adistance not greater than the distance between two successivecontactpoints, a plurality of electrical conductors connecting thepoints of said ring of contactpoints to the corresponding oints of saidline of contact points, an e ectrio circuit connected at one end withsaid counterweighted pivot member and having two branches which areconnected to the respective contact-pieces, a pair of relays mounted inthe respective branches, motor-mechanisms acting on saidtraveling-member to move it in one direction or the other, and a pair ofsecondary circuits arranged to be closed by the respective relays andacting on the respective motor-mechanisms to move said traveling-memberrespectively in one direction or the other.

In witness whereof we have hereunto set our hands this 16th da of June,1908. EDWI SGHUETTE.

NICHOLAS DEDRICK. Wltnesses:

LOUIS SoHUn'r'm, EDWARD LARSON.-

